Cognitive Workload Predicts Cognitive Performance in Aging

Cognitive decline is a central challenge of aging, with subtle early changes laying the foundation for broader difficulties later in life. One particularly challenging domain to address is processing capacity, which is considered a key aspect of cognitive ability. Previous research has shown age-related differences in workload capacity using redundant-target detection tasks. However, it remains unclear whether higher cognitive ability is associated with greater workload capacity among older adults. In this study, we examined 65 older adults who were divided into higher- and lower-scoring groups based on the MoCA. Participants completed a redundant-target detection task, and resilience capacity was estimated using Systems Factorial Technology (SFT). Results revealed that higher-participants exhibited significantly greater resilience capacity than lower-scoring participants. Specifically, the higher-scoring group exhibited unlimited capacity across much of the processing window, whereas the lower-scoring group exhibited limited capacity. Furthermore, functional principal component analysis (fPCA) identified a temporal component that differentiated the two groups. Together, these findings suggest that workload capacity is closely linked to cognitive performance and may reflect aspects of cognitive reserve through the ability to maintain resilience capacity in higher cognitive performers, providing evidence that individual differences in cognitive performance among older adults are accompanied by measurable differences in processing capacity.